Anita Latte

Hello Ladies!

I hope everyone is filled with Christmas spirit NOT stress!!

Mom and Dad arrive in four days!!! I'm so excited. We are looking forward to some diverting fashion/travel convo.

My son's teacher has a store on her favorites list that I had never heard of before. It is called Charming Charlie. His teacher is a pretty cute young stylin' person, so I checked out the store. The website says:

Charming Charlie: "A chic fashion accessories boutique, uniquely organized by color, that offers an overwhelming selection of all of the finishing touches to help you complete your outfit - fashion jewelry, handbags, scarves, belts," (my emphasis!)

I don't know if there is a location in your area. I haven't been yet, but I'm taking Mom there while she's here. I'm looking forward to seeing if it is a good as it appears to be online. Here's the link:

http://www.charmingcharlie.com/

Looks like a great resource. If anyone checks it out, I'd be interested to hear about their experience. I wonder if the merchandise would vary at all by location...we could all compare notes...

Have a great day everyone! :)

Thanks so much, Anita. It's a lonely road to walk, isn't it? What kind of dog was Molly? I'm sorry for your loss too. It really is heartbreaking. We really are so thankful to have Caico at home. Every day she's made progress. We just want to take care of her and know that she's happy and pain free.

Molly was my first ever kitty. I grew up with dogs...Mom mentioned Callaway, our beloved golden lab...and I never thought to be a cat person. Truth be told, I am still not much of a cat person, but I really love my own kittys. Toby, Molly's brother, is still with us. He is going strong and does not at all act like an almost 11 year old kitty.

Molly, aged 3, was accidentally locked into a basement room when we went on a week-long holiday trip. Friends that were checking in on the kittys just thought she was shy and never realized she was locked in a room without food or water. She survived...but she went anorexic again after one of our moves...they say a cat will have a tendency to do this if it has ever happened to them before...and the last upset was just too much for her, she became anorexic again and she would not recover from it again. Major liver issues result with a cat not eating, and she also stopped drinking. We made a hard decision.

Mom's words were invaluable. She said that Molly loved us, trusted us, and relied on us to take care of her her whole life. With pets, this also includes tough decisions for care at the end of their earthly life. Good care of our beloved pets takes many different forms, and sometimes, it's a heartbreaking thing, but it is the best care to give to make that tough decision.

I think our pets feel better at home and with home care. Just like people usually do. It's wonderful to hear that about your Caico. Molly did that during her second sickness. She was so happy to be home... I'm sure that Caico is feeling the same.

Have a great time with your parents! I'm excited and looking forward to sharing pictures and thoughts with both you and Pam :) It will be fun to share with you both.

Thanks! It will be a fun project. I haven't seen the latest go 'round of shopping that Mom did, so it will be fun to see everything. It will be a fun project for us to share with everyone.

Thanks for the heads up on the other thread! I'm working my way through it...and it is quite a long one!!

That thread is SOOOO LONG!! But if you work your way through it, there is great information there. It comes in spurts. People join in and talk about personal coloring, but then there is a lot of general color talk as people get enthused about discovering their palattes.

I think the thing that has always been challenging to me is that my mom is a classic winter with that "Snow White" look...light skin and dark, dark hair and eyes. I LOVE her colors and she is very dramatic in her choices. But...my own coloring is very different than hers and is very warm with ivory skin, and the coppery hair, and dark brown eyes.

 

The problem for me is I don't really LIKE the warm muted colors except for a few. Warm colors look better on me than cool. But if I have to wear warm, I tend to LIKE more in the spring/fire pallet...but it's more about colors I like than what looks best on me. I am confident that I'm warm...but I'm not convinced that those rusts, and muddy golds are my best. But is it my dislike of the colors in general?

 

I will post more on the other thread AFTER I read it all!!

I understand about what colors you like and dislike and how that can be influencing your feelings about wearing certain colors. My only recommendation on that is to do the diagnostic pictures. See what happens to your appearance in the different colors in the photographs. Perhaps when you look at the colors that aren't your favorites, but see how complementary they are (if indeed they are your colors), this may influence your feelings about them. The diagnostic pictures of Dyan of a really great, recent example of seeing how the different colors affect your appearance.

Ladies, I just posted this picture of me when I was 12. I was a FIRE then, even with red hair and freckles! Still a FIRE, too!

Thanks for sharing this photo! I love seeing younger pictures of people. I'm always interested to see how people look at the different ages. Your eyes are still so YOU! Beautiful!

Thinking good thoughts for you and your interview today. You sound well prepared and I love the calming, focusing plan of the walk outside. I don't know the validity of the idea, but I recently read a bit about what is called GROUNDING. You might try standing in your barefeet (or just non-rubber soled shoes) against the earth. Something about the ions...It's supposed to be very relaxing and calming, kind of like what happens when you lay on the beach...your body gets into contact with the earth and the earth's negative ions are able to attach to the free radicals in your body...it's like a natural anti-oxidant to ground yourself...supposed to be very cleansing...let us know how the interview goes!

The colors they chose for me were heavy on the teals and aquas, salmony pinks, warm reds, various browns and some yellows. I did get some of the darker olives, but I've never really felt comfortable in rust, and the muddy golds even though they are typically autumn colors and were in my packet.

 

It's SO FUN to talk colors again...it's been quite a few years!

Weeeee-eeeelllll....hmmm

Depending on the quality of the swatches you were given. AND how well you were instructed in identifying your new color palatte...it is totally possible that you were not diagnosed very well. I think everyone that is posting on this particular thread is subscribing to a new color naming system that was started by Curt Jerome Wild. I don't know if you have read the "Seasons" thread on this board or not. If you have you know what I am about to write...

This is an interesting case because it goes to show you HOW color analysis has developed over the years...

But anyway, if you were not given a clearly defined WAY of identifying your palatte, but were only given swatches and told to try to match those or come close, then the color system that identified you could be the source of the problem.

Spring, or FIRE, is a palatte that is characterized by warm colors that are clear. Think of the Caribbean ocean...a brilliant sunset before the sun goes under the horizon...bright, bright, BRIGHT tropical flowers (or desert flowers too)...think coral, teal, aqua, granny apple green, sunshine yellow, tomato red, electric blue (the color of Terri's dress pictured earlier)...these are spring or FIRE colors.

Autumn, or EARTH, is a palatte that is characterized by warm colors that are muted. Think of Sedona, the Grand Canyon, the changing colors of the landscape in the autumn, the sunset AFTER the sun has gone below the horizon, bricks, terracotta pots, classic army gear/clothing, colors associated with Thanksgiving...think olive green, rust, marigold, warm wine colors, brick red...there is teal and salmony colors but they are muted, when you look at them, they aren't vibrant feeling, they are very MELLOW feeling...

To sum up, Spring = bright, clear, warm

Autumn = mellow, muted, warm

If you don't look FABULOUS in rust and muted yellows...I really question whether or not you are Autumn. Of course...until our eyes are trained to really understand what it is that makes a color look so good on ourselves, it can be hard to feel comfortable in certain colors. So there is that to take into consideration as well. Have you read the Seasons thread? There is some great information there about identifying your season. I think you should double check that Autumn label. :rolleyes:

Kim...I'm so sorry to hear about Caico. I totally understand. We walked the same path recently with our own sweet little girl, Molly. She had been sick two other times in life and when the third time came around, she just wasn't going to get better again. I still cry ocassionally, I miss my sweet little Molly girl. I hope that you can enjoy your Caico for as long as possible. Pets ARE family. My heart goes out to you.

Terri...that picture is FABULOUS!! I love the pose. So romantic...;)

ChattieKathy...another welcome...Curt believes that you have your same coloring your whole life. In fact, as you get older, and your hair changes color, if you want to color your hair, he recommends that you return to the hair coloring that you had as a child. I do recall in the original Color Me Beautiful books that the author said that your coloring (and thus your season) could change as you get older (especially as your hair changes color), but I don't believe that.

The color palattes that are given by different color analysts can vary widely. The only difference between spring and autumn colors is clarity. Spring is clear with autumn muted. I would clarify that you are refering to the clear colors looking better on you? Or is it only that you are liking a lighter color (but still muted) which would still be an autumn color? It's possible that you were mislabeled an autumn...or like Kim said, you could just be moving toward the lighter end of the autumn spectrum.

To everyone...Mom (Pam) will be here in 12 days!!! I haven't seen her since a very fast weekend visit last March...I'm told that they took over 1800 pictures on their long vacation...we will not post all :eek:, but I think that we can keep the discussion alive and have some fun with virtual travel and talking about travel wardrobes and specifically a FIRE travel wardrobe (which will keep us on topic!) :cool:

Glad to hear you had a great time, Terri. Any pics of your fab Fire outfits? I'm such a visual person :D I especially would like to see the bright blue dress!

I second! Glad to read you had a great time...and do you have any pictures?

My parents had to get off the ship today by 11PM. I think they have a day in FL before flying home. Hopefully, Mom can post some photos too!

There is so much conversation going on here and I missed it!!! :( LOL!

Curt, what a cool thing you do to adjust the saturation on the color cards! That is really interesting to know...and I'm so glad you joined our discussion here...I think I grabbed your one shopping trip to Express a couple pages back (because I remembered it and I know that newly interested people aren't reading all of that page-a-licious Season thread)...it's nice to hear your distinctive voice!...I know time is more limited as a Daddy. :)

Joby...you had so much fun shopping! Don't let the fabric of your green dress throw you for a loop...you did GOOD...just to restate what Curt said in general in specific...it looks like the dress fabric is more of a "matte" finish and not shiny...and I think this is why it is looking less clear and more muted in a way...when you compare the fabric to the gloss print of the cards, the fabric looks different from the cards, which can make you wonder if it's muted because it isn't shiny...but in your picture, compare the solid dress to the print...the dress can hold its own against the print...it isn't showing itself to be muted there, just a different colored green...together they blend. The green is clear, just matte clear. It really helps to group together your clothing to see how your clothes blend.

Joan...welcome to the conversation!

Terri...so you must be back from your cruise?! Are you going to make a report?

OOO pictures! I look forward to seeing them!

I'd have to refer to the itenerary, but I think my parents get back home on Nov 16. They are still in the Atlantic...last I heard there was only a 6 hour time difference between us...I hear from her at least every other day through email.

Kim...you are so complementary to me, I don't think I deserve it. But I thank you for it.

I'm entering a stage of life where I am getting more and more tired of being "safe" with things like clothing...getting over the consequences of taking more risks with my clothes and just having fun with it. I've dressed pretty conservatively my whole life...and while I still consider myself to be modest, I'm having fun with trying to play up the fun while still covering my assets... ;) What I love about the whole color analysis is that it helps to give boundaries to the whole process, which helps me tremendously...I like that bit of structure in the mix...

Have you decided on the green dress yet?

Joby...The key word to think about is BLEND...doesn't matter if the color is lighter or darker, so long as it is BRIGHT (not muted) and BLENDS into your color cards...you are good to go.

This is going to hold true for blue jeans for fire as well. I have been looking for true fire blue jeans for a long time now (I often shop for my Mom as I shop for myself) and I don't think it exists. Not in the traditional denim blue. In order for a fabric to be called denim, it is a specific weave of fabric (results in give/ease) and also it is a specific way of weaving the blue fabric with another color, which is why there is an undertone to denim and the wrong side of denim is very obviously the wrong side of the fabric. By the very nature of traditional denim, I don't think you can ever truly find an Ice or Fire denim in traditional blue. Traditional denim will almost always be muted.

Thus, often times, denim will have that "white" look to it, and that white on the inside...these are the Air denim. Sometimes, the stitching will even be white... Othertimes, there is that yellowy/gold (aged) look, and the stitching will also be that golden, goldenrod-like, thread...these are the EARTH denim.

Now, if you can find denim that is made with the denim fabric, but isn't died until the fabric is woven...(the wrong side will be harder to distinguish)...then you have a shot at finding denim in a fire or ice color. I think Coldwater Creek has had denim capris in colors like coral and mint and yellow...

This is one of those things where you just have to know how to work with the color palatte and bend the rules. Find a denim that reads warm and go for it. Wear your brown shoes (or accent shoes) and wear your bright, clear color close to your face.

So, Dyan, yes, the jeans are warm because of the temperature...the fade will just about put all denim in the muted category. I'm thinking that the only denim that might qualify as not muted...think brand spankin' new dark denim...like Wrangler denim...like retro Jordash or Brooke Shields in Calvin Kleins...

It IS possible to have a fabric that walks the line between seasons. The nature of the seasons will do that, because it is all based on a spectrum, so as a color approaches the dividing line, in theory you could find a fabric that would be neutral. The funny thing about a fabric like that though, generally speaking, depending on the color of course...it ends up looking great on no-one. I would put "beige" in that category. So little color there to work with in the first place...if it is a borderline thing...it isn't rich enough for earth, isn't bright enough for either Ice or Fire...and if it isn't clearly in the pink zone for Air, then Air doesn't look lovely, but just washed out as well...

With a beige suit...you really have to work it...because that will probably be a suit color that you will have to work with for a while until you really nail some great fire suits. If the color will work with a bright, tomato red shirt...and you accessorize with gold jewelry...and you wear brown shoes...and perhaps you have a fun scarf that has an accent of red in the midst of fire colors to bring your whole look together (and to perhaps get your fire color closer to your face if your shirt is not high necked)...and the beige works in multiple versions of this same scenario...trading out your fire shirts...then you have a great suit...this is what learning about the colors is all about. It isn't about having to dress by a set-rule, it is knowing how to break the rule and still look good.

For example, I am working with my clothes...I have a super fun black Chico's skirt that i have loved forever. It's an A-line skirt. It's super flattering. The material is heavy, it hangs just right...it has cream colored thread throughout to create a pattern in the black. I still have it. One outfit that I have put together recently (after the fun closet par down) is a more drapy, rayon knit muted gold turtleneck. I have a matching muted gold jacket that is a tone on tone pattern thing. I have a black corset belt (to show off my emerging curves). It's black and muted gold. Do I think it would look better with brown? Oh yes, I surely do. But the world is trained to mix and match all the colors of the seasons, especially with black, and so it works on that level. The muted gold is close to my face and the outfit looks great on me. Will I eventually replace the black skirt? Yes. But I know how to manipulate where to put color on me to "Make it work"! LOL.

Dyan (thanks for posting a name so I can stop thinking of you as princess LOL)...here's hoping your purple twinset will be FIRE!

I do NOT see how Borealis, Bright purple and (I could go either way on Cobalt) could be Fire. I do see that they're bright but, Borealis looks mixed not clear to me, and bright purple looks like a blue undertone.

 

Branch looks like it's not bright but also looks very dark chocolatey to my eye, so that' why I said Fire.

I know. I know. When I was being "diagnosed" by Curt, he really wanted to see me in Fire blue. He used the Express site to show me what Fire blue was. And Fire purple. My conclusions are based largely on my Curt education from the Express site. I am pretty confident in what I am seeing though.

At some point, muted and clear become difficult. When you start to have those colors that aren't clearly on one side of the coin or the other. But Borealis is definitely too bright to be worn by someone that needs muted coloring. WAY too bright really, so by default, it works for either fire or ice. It's definitely reading warm on my screen. Please note that they have matched it with warm jeans and not the gray colored jeans that a lot of other colors are matched with.

Bright purple does not look good with the silver of the belt buckle. It just doesn't. And when I see the "golden" color of the Amber on the screen, I can just totally picture GOLD accessories with that purple so much more than the silver. Thus, FIRE.

Cobalt. There's no doubt in my mind. It doesn't go with those gray jeans at all. AT ALL on my screen. Again, I'm actually liking it in theory with gold accessories (using the Amber square as a guide).

How the heck do you know how Talbot's does their pictures???? I am learning such fascinating things on this thread!

I used to do desktop publishing for a living. I worked with Photoshop. How you know that Photoshop is being used to show the color is that the photograph doesn't change in any way except for the color changing on the clothing item being marketed. The model position is the same, background the same, etc etc.

If you look again at the Express site, you will notice that for each color that you click on, you get a brand new picture that shows the item in the color you selected. The model position changes. The pants change. It's clearly a new picture being shown. These are better to use for identification purposes, but still subject to all the faults of trying to identify colors on a computer.

I'll answer the pop quiz...

If I were to pick out all the FIRE colors in that shirt style, I would guess:

Bluebird

Borealis

Bright Purple

Charter

Cobalt Blue

Concord

At least on my screen. They all have that hurt your eyes kind of intensity on my screen...

By contrast, I would put these as ICE:

Classic Blue

Horizon Blue

Ink Blue

Marine

Pink Flame

Seaside Blue

Purple

Which are also intense, but reading cool, and definitely not hurting the eyes...LOL.

The Branch color? I think that it just might be a little too dark to really be a great shirt color for FIRE. I think I would look fabulous in Branch. Amber and Jungle are also me. Russian Ruby also looks like me. Komodo too.

Princess: The difficult thing about the Talbot's site is that they don't actually take pictures of the different color options. They have just Photoshopped the colors to the photograph. It is possible that the Plum Plush is a Fire color, or not. The photograph is completely unreliable because of the process.

My Mom and Dad worked very hard to get to this point in their lives. It's very inspiring!

Joby,

I think that dress will be a beautiful FIRE green! (If real life is represented well online, of course). I think that A-line will be very flattering. I like the neck line too; you don't need to worry about a necklace, but can have fun with earrings and bracelets.

My mom is still on the cruise. We keep in touch through emails. The last one I got from her (yesterday or the day before), they were in Spain and then a sea day. I'm not sure by memory what other ports are on the agenda before they take off across the Atlantic. Their travel plans have them on vacation for 28 days!! :cool:

Great job on all your clothing purchases! I am in the total opposite boat. I hope you don't mind my sharing on your thread...I have been trying to revamp my wardrobe ever since I discovered my lovely earth-yness. Also, trying to figure out my own personal style after years of wearing clothes fit for playgrounds and/or painting the house and other reno. Just recently, I have fallen in love with the Project Runway series (checking it out from the library and watching it a season at a time) and also LOVING Tim Gunn, who to me is the epitome of the word KIND...so I got one of his books and doing the exercise within it, I have effectively gotten rid of about 70% of my clothing. I now have an absolutely boutique looking closet with anywhere between 3 and 4 inches of space between each hanger in it.

And it's all so fabulous, I have discovered some great outfits within my own already owned clothing...one was truly inspired by Mondo (sp?) from the most reason season, being an amazing print on print ensemble that matched so well you could never have known how far apart the pieces were purchased...one being a sundress from JCPenny and the other a cardigan my Mom gave me from the Spa line at Chicos. (Mom ended up giving me a lot of her Earth toned clothing after she finally became dedicated to dressing in Fire...it helped too that she was shrinking also and the items were a bit baggy on her, while fitting me very well! LOL)

ALSO...I am steadily undergrowing my clothing...which I think I mentioned before...maybe I mentioned all of this before?:D:o Anyway, I am just retiring clothing that gets way too baggy, big and annoying. I anticipate a complete wardrobe make over before it is all said and done...

Meanwhile, I am doing what I can to make what I have work as the seasons change...using super fun tights to extend the life of skirts and sundresses into autumn. I've been seriously paying attention to my clothes for about a week now and the response from random sources has been truly a boost to the ego, fueling the fire that is already lit in enthusiasm for getting fit before the big 40 bday.

And that's what is going on with me on the fashion front...:)

My Mom's current LBD dress is APPLE GREEN. She says she is one of the only ones in the room that is wearing a color. And she STANDS OUT...BIG TIME!!

I think she is wearing this dress on the transatlantic that she is currently on...she can chime in when she gets back on reaction to it. I haven't been on a cruise in a long time so I don't know what other people would be thinking or what the atmosphere is like. Because of this whole color analysis and because of a personal new interest in fashion, I'm loving when people express themselves through their clothing. I appreciate the different spin people put on fashion. So I would be of a mind to appreciate someone wearing a color as opposed to another LBD. I can tell you that my Dad rarely has a hard time spotting my Mom in a crowd. LOL.

I don't think that you would look like a Christmas tree in your green dress. I think that you would likely look gorgeous (I don't recall ever seeing your photo...BUT) IF you are wearing your color and follow through with accessories and makeup, and you will be a stand out KNOCK OUT.

I think this looks SO wrong. That brown should not look so dark. I don't think that my Mom's cards look like this. When I look at this picture:

It doesn't seem the same at all. It's like your cards are oversaturated? Or something? IDK.

The hard thing about guessing about the blue sweater is really dealing with the whole internet, picture taking issue...when I look at the sweater, I think it could be too muted to be FIRE. When I compare the picture of the sweater to the picture of the dress that Terri posted...the sweater is much easier on the eyes...the dress almost hurts mine and sends me running for sunglasses when I really focus on it. I don't know if this is because of the texture of the sweater, throwing me off, or what, but I'm guessing no on the sweater. But this is the difficulty of internet shopping...it's all a guess until you see it IRL...Terri has ordered plenty of things that I know she has returned because they didn't deliver quite as pictured online...

Joby...those dresses are really nice...I concur with Terri's comments. Do you happen to live near an H&M store? I just read something about that in a Tim Gunn book. I tried looking online but they don't seem to offer much online shopping. Tim Gunn made them sound like a somewhat trendy store with great prices. I don't know if they have evening wear dresses or not...

Also, I wanted to point out Victoria's Secret as a potential place to get some FIRE bottoms. Sounds bizarre, I know, but I got their recent catalog (the previous residents received the catalog so now I get it...) and I saw that they have a great yellow color, called Raffia, YES, it is slightly muted...BUT I think that it could be a fabulous match for many FIRE shirts...and also they have a lovely lighter colored brown, Chocolate, and Camel. These are all in a casual pant...just wanted to share...very affordably priced...

I've been having a lot of fun shopping Etsy. I don't know what your budget is, but so many of the shops on Etsy either have some standard colors to choose from OR they simply say that you can pick your color.

Here's an interesting dress and shop:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/59634201/chameleon-wrap-dress-custom-made-choose?ref=cat3_gallery_16

It would be interesting to enter into "convo" with the shop owners to see if you can work with them to get the exact color you want.

I've already started thinking about what I'm going to do for my March 2012 cruise. I'm thinking about getting (or sewing myself) the reversible version of that dress so that I could have the same dress for two formal nights but look totally different. I'm really getting jazzed by the multi-use garments.

I guess I'm just in a total shopping mood...I'm currently planning my cruise wardrobe for 2012...LOL...I plan to sew it myself...I've been staring at Etsy for days getting inspiration for good multipurpose clothing...

Anyway, checking out Macy's again...check out this navy skirt...I think there are coordinating pants and suit coat as well...

http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=467186&CategoryID=39096&LinkType=#fn=COLOR%3DBlue%26sp%3D1%26spc%3D31

I start looking for clues in the picture as to whether or not the color will coordinate with cool or warm. This model is wearing brown shoes and gold jewelry. Usually, I see black shoes and silver jewelry for navy...This could be a great FIRE suit. MAYBE. LOL.

The way you are describing your FIRE color cards...it sounds totally different from Mom's.:confused: But maybe the print job is just different. IDK.

How's this for help...you want your navy to be WARM and BRIGHT...:D ROFL...

Seriously though...most navy that I have found is AIR...cool and muted...the best advice I can think of for seeing if it works is to literally wear or bring a shirt you would wear with the navy...and see if it works...the more you test your eye in coordinating, the better you will get at it. It might help to contrast...grab a cool pastel and see if that looks better with the suit.

I took a look at the Talbots site (since you seem to need conservative clothes) and they have a great looking camel suit. That could be your best bet...

http://www.talbots.com/online/browse/product_details.jsp?id=prdi25300&rootCategory=cat70012&catId=cat80022&sortKey=Default&section=Regular&conceptIdUnderSale=cat70012

Joby...this could be one to watch for a good sale...there look to be two different styles of pencil skirts, a couple of pants, a couple of different jacket styles...they all look pretty classic (which they should be being Talbots) and so they should last for a good long while.

Oooh I want to do a transatlantic cruise.......But as for the TA cruise, Anita, your mom is doing it the right way - I've heard reviews from others who went out of the states complain that they were so busy towards the end of the cruise, and then it's over, because the relaxing sea days are at the beginning - so I guess coming from Europe and having that time to relax at the end is much better. What cruise line are you taking to the Caribbean?

This will be the second TA cruise that my parents have taken. Both have been from East to West. There is also something about the way the time changes that is supposed to be easier that way too, I think.

We are taking RC out of Galveston on Mar 11, 2012. My 40th bday is that month and after telling my parents that I wanted to do something that spring break in honor of the ocassion, Mom discovered the deal on the cruise. Pretty much everyone is banking on spring break being that week, as it's my understanding that the ship is hugely booked for being so far out. We booked a couple months ago even.

With blues and purples I am confused between warm and cool, and with browns I am confused between clear/fire and muted/earth. (Oranges, too, actually, after having seen the fire cards in person, as many of the shades really look like various shades of orange to me.) And I'm really confused about gray after looking at the other color cards. Obviously most grays and what I think of as "standard" gray is cool (like a mixing of black and white). But I have a suit that is a more yellowish gray, so I thought that was warm, but maybe kind of muted? But it doesn't look like earth has any grays (except for the gray green which to my eye looks sort of like a light olive). It does NOT look like the gray on my color card, and actually it looks warmer than that. Which leads into my other question, which is TAUPE!!! Ice has "grayish beige" which is the closest I have found to taupe, but some shades of taupe look more like a beigey-gray. Does that make any sense? And would that make a difference anyway? I think it would, because to me there is a thin but definite line between grayish (or cool) beige, and beigey (if it's a yellowish-beige) WARM gray. Am I analyzing this too much? And if I am, then perhaps Joby has wondered about the same thing? LOL

Color identification will really become better with practice. If you have time, I would pop into your local JoAnn's and check out the fabric section. You'll be able to see more variety in the fabric store than you will in the stores, especially if you spend any time in the quilting section, which will be totally color coordinated. You might be able to start training your eye as to how the spectrums of the color change as they go from cool to warm. I think looking at actual fabric will be more helpful than paint swatches.

Technically, there should be a version of every color in every palatte. Technically. When you start to think about certain colors though, you can start to understand that it just may be impossible to find the EXACT thing.

Brown, for instance. If you think about painting in art in elementary school, if you end up mixing all the tempura paints together, you get some sort of shade of brown, because BROWN is one of those colors that results when you mix 3+ shades together. By the very mixed nature of brown it is something of a muted color... However, in the fashion world, you will be able to find browns that will remind you more of highly polished wood than tree bark...and these are the browns you want to find.

It is my opinion, that brown will usually be something that you want to use for basic pieces and generally, you will want to have one of your pops of FIRE by your face, because it will indeed be a RARE brown shirt that will give you the coloring you need for your skin type.

By and large, gray will be an AIR color. Because, usually gray will read cool and muted. Again, back in the art room, gray is a TINT of black, just add white, right? IRL black is the absense of color. But in the APPLIED world (monitors and screens included), black is the combination of ALL colors way over saturated, and white is the absense of color. So it is with dyes, I believe. So black, like most colors, can have many different variations and can even appear to be warmer or cooler. Like some black actually DOES look really good with gold... So it is with gray...

And since we are talking about making muddled colors...gray and brown get to be weirdly related...which is why, when you do test pictures, you usually put a gray one against a brown one. Because most grays are cool, and most browns are warm, but not always. LOL.

So, yeah, there are grays/browns that could be named either because they are so close. When I think of TAUPE, it is that brown/gray color that has a purply/pinky (mauve) undertone to it. And this to me is AIR. Like you say, you want a gray that has a more yellow undertone to it, so it reads warm. If you can manage to find the rare one that isn't all muddled looking? (an earth color)...then you have found the illusive FIRE gray. Good luck with that...;)

I'm just concerned about finding suits, I guess. Anita, I know you said a lot of fires have to live with earth-toned suits for a while and wear fire colors with them. BUT - I think there are fires who can pull off earth tones pretty well, and those who can't. And I think it's pretty clear from my test photos that I fall into the second category! I am certain that I look at least as bad in that muted gold sweater as I do in black. So I am concerned. I guess wearing a good fire color blouse is going to be key, right?

Wearing the fire colored blouse IS going to be key. BIG TIME. I'm not sure what kind of suit you want...for fall/winter, I would definitely recommend getting a brown one...and just trying to find a brown that goes the best with whatever dress shirts you will be wearing...these pants are on the macy's website:

You can't see it, but they are plaid. The color of the shirt is one of the lines of the plaid in the pants. On my screen, this is a bright tomato red shirt and gold bracelets. There is another brown suit on the site shown with a yellow shirt...And the brown can stand up that particular shirt. It would seem to me that brown, even if it ended up being more of an earth brown would coordinate well enough with your FIRE colors. Be sure to wear your gold jewelry... This is why I was saying you may need to make something work for you as best you can until you can find the perfect FIRE suit.

I really think FIRE has the hardest time with the neutrals, because there really isn't a great FIRE neutral IMO. There is for the other 3 elements, but not so much for FIRE. It will take a bit of bending of the rules IMO to make certain traditional looks because it is so difficult to find the clear, bright warm navy, gray, brown for fire.

When I shop for my Mom, and I think this is what Terry ends up doing, is mixing prints and solids...then your entire outfit ends up being more of an overall FIRE look...

For your Mom and shopping...has she figured out her colors? If she does, then she might jump on the same color obsession train and then the whole shopping venture becomes more understandable...

Isn't that funny about vacation sometimes? It can wear you out! Member123 (my Mom) is about to start a transatlantic cruise. My parents have been in Italy since the 19th and I think the cruise starts tomorrow or the day after.

We are doing the Caribbean out of Galveston for Spring Break in 2012. The cruise line has messed up the week and they jacked up the price for the week after what is traditionally our spring break.

The idea about printing out the other color charts is a good one. My Dad (an ICE) did that. He has that kind of personality...if it isn't HIS color, he wants to know WHOSE color it is. Then he feels more confident in his color choices. The analytical, logical, everything in its place brain. Joby, from what you have written, you are so similar...:)

I don't know how trendy you like your shoes, or your tolerance for heels...so I tried to pick out 5 pictures that would represent a variety of shoes... Keeping in mind that these are to be dress shoes, as in work-related dress shoes, you don't want your gold shoe to look TOO dressy...these are not to be worn with a cocktail dress or formal...

There are many more gold shoes at Zappos...here is how I did the search, so you could see...

http://www.zappos.com/search/shoes/filter/productTypeFacet/%22Shoes%22/gender/%22Womens%22/categoryFacet/%22Shoes%22/colorFacet/%22Gold%22/page/1/sort/isNew/desc/productPopularity/asc/

There are many more that are more gold that are beautiful, BUT they could also be cocktail dress shoes, so I didn't select those. According to Instyle magazine (something I had fun checking out that month...) GOLD is one of the fall style trends:

http://www.instyle.com/instyle/package/general/photos/0,,20409212_20409568_20823033,00.html

The one take away from the article is to have one shot of gold in your outfit. If you pick gold shoes, that's your shot of it, so you could definitely get something more gold-like for everyday this fall, according to the magazine...

I'm also struggling with shoes. What color of dress shoes would be a good neutral (that isn't brown)?

Brown will be your best neutral. Unlike black, there are many different shades of brown, so brown shoes, when you can find them, will actually give your shoe some variance that owning many black shoes would not.

Another DRESSY neutral will be to find gold. The key on the gold will be to find one that isn't too garish...looking at zappos at flats, there is a wide range of what they consider gold...some of them are beautiful.

Another option would be to go into the animal prints...leopard especially...something with the brown tones...

Another option would be to decide for yourself that the right color can be a neutral. I once was trying to decide between some super cute red shoes and some practical brown. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to wear the red shoes with as much as I could wear the brown. Well. I liked the red so much, and it was a dull, red leather, not shiny...and it just WENT with so much more than I thought it would.

I found that the key to wearing colored shoes as a neutral is to NOT match your shirt, unless your shirt is a print and your shoes highlight a color. It just looks funny to have shirt and shoes match. When you look at fashion magazines, colored shoes are an ACCENT... so for example, if you are wearing a coral colored shirt and a pair of neutral brown/tan pants, go for a yellow shoe and have yellow repeat somewhere else, like a coral/yellow scarf (worn as a scarf, belt or hair accent) or have other yellow accessories. It sounds odd at first...but flip through some fashion magazines to see what I mean...notice that colored shoes only match your outfit if they match your pants...

So, more likely for a summer outfit or a skirt outfit (because colored pants are hard to find...), if you find coral or turquoise colored shoes (very likely in sandals), and wear same or similar colored bottoms, you end up treating that color as a neutral and you can wear another fire colored shirt. I would probably go more for a print shirt, OR if you managed to find appropriate colored shoes/skirt, solid shirt, and a print jacket that could bring the whole look together...Do you see what I am trying to get at?

When you start palatte dressing...you have to open your mind to knew uses of color, especially treating some colors as neutrals that you might not normally think of as BEING neutral, BUT the way you put your outfit together, the color is treated as a neutral.

Thanks ladies for encouragement on the weight loss. I have a long road to go, but I have a long time to get to my goal, so I'm trying to be patient and make long lasting changes. Easier said than done! LOL.

My opinion on the yellow tops...the solid tee looks beautifully sunny and warm. There is a range of yellow that looks great on both FIRE and EARTH and I think that particular yellow belongs in that category. From my end, I think that yellow would blend in with your brights and blend in with my muted colors. I would call it a borderline color based on what I can see.

The sheer blouse is a different yellow. More true to yellow and less toward orange-y. The sheer material is kind of acting like sweater knit for me. The texture makes perceiving the clear/muted more difficult. At least, this happens for me... In the group photo, it harmonizes really well with the other yellow, blue and brown, so I'm definitely thinking that it's a keeper. Harmony is the key. I think that blouse would be a great accent piece for a fire.

Pants for FIRE are seriously an issue. SERIOUSLY. Shopping with Mom can be an exercise in frustration...the tans can definitely be too "pink" and not "yellowy" enough to go with the warm brights...the khaki's can be the same way...finding the right milk chocolate brown is like impossible...the warm, clear gray is also impossible...if you can find cream colored instead of white, that's amazing...but then who wants such light colors for their bum all the time?

If you like solid tops, then finding complementary prints in skirts and dresses really does become easier.

Otherwise, you just have to deal with finding pants that are more EARTH like...and deciding that you LIKE the way that looks...finding the darker brown, the neutral greens (army, olive, etc.)...and put those with some of your complementary brights...FIRE really needs to learn how to bend the rules until you can get those key pieces...

If you take a look at these two posts by Curt

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=23736418&postcount=2624

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=23736427&postcount=2625

then you can see what his neutrals look like...Camel is definitely one of the colors this season. Curt has a camel suit that looks great with the fire colors. I know that you are a bargain shopper Joby, but I would recommend that you scope out some great camel colored pants and perhaps watch for a great sale or just bite the bullet...get something that is the best quality you can afford for longevity and consider it a part of your capsule wardrobe...

Wow ladies!!! Joby, you have been having so much fun shopping...I'm totally jealous, I have to say...I'm in the process of some major weightloss, and I lost a chunk and went shopping and I'm still not a size that I want to buy and so I have had NO FUN at ALL shopping!!:eek:

But you have!!

The funny thing about that first blue picture...with the Old Navy shirt on top and the two other new ones below... you can see the differences in the blues, and yes, one or the other looks "cooler" because they are more blue and some have more of that green color that makes it look warmer...so you wonder on this end of the internet, is one cooler than the other? And then you put the cards up and it's like, NOPE, they really do harmonize. When you look at the picture, they don't "fight" even if one looks cooler than the other...and I think that is the key to remember...

We all interpret color in relation to another color...so ALL color will look warmer or cooler than another color even if the cooler color is still WARM...and that's the cool thing about the control of the color cards. I think the blues are all a hit...however, I think that the final verdict will be decided when you look at pictures of yourself.

I know that I have bought some seriously cool looking purples and blues for my Mom, who is a fire, BUT they are actually warm and she looks awesome in them. So the pictures of yourself tell the true story.

On the jacket...on my monitor, the jacket itself is not lavender, more pink, but it is definitely reading cool, BUT the fur part is definitely reading a kind of tan color that is warm by comparison. I have to say thought that if that is working well enough with all your lovely FIRE colors to do as Terri says, cooperate with your fire colors, then the tan of this jacket is workable.

Great job Joby!:)

Knowing return policies is always the KEY to online shopping anyway... you just may have a new reason for return beyond the actual fit of the garment.

how do I tell if it's a dark FIRE periwinkle or an ICE royal blue/purple? (Without having to buy the item first and do a test photo!

Well now...that is the trick isn't it?

There are a couple of different things that you can do...

The first is to have a control that you keep with you when you are shopping. This is where you hear the talk of many of us that use Curt's color cards, or some other color swatch system from another supplier. Lighting can have such an effect on the way we perceive color. Ever buy something in the store that you think is one color, then you get it into the sunlight and you're like, what? This is the beauty of carrying a control. Regardless of what the colors end up looking like in the lighting of the store, you KNOW that the control colors are good. You use your control colors to make comparisons.

Another methodology along the same lines is to eventually use the clothing that you are wearing. Be sure that you wear great colors for you and then you can walk around seeing your beautiful self in the mirror with your fabulous elemental color on. Now hold up a questionable color to yourself in the mirror and compare what happens to what you look like in your own shirt. Do you look as good in the store shirt?

Do the same thing with your phone camera... take a picture of yourself in your current shirt with the current lighting conditions in the store... take a picture of yourself trying on your shirt in the same lighting conditions and compare the photos...

Start making a color party in the store. Use the clothes you are wearing...take them all off in the dressing room if necessary... Grab other KNOWN colors in the store... go into the dressing room and make a collage (kind of like I did on my shower door) and see if the color "goes" with your collage...

Try to accessorize the questionable item... My mom and I like this one especially for formal dresses... We like Gianni Bini at Dillards... I'll take that royal blue dress all over Dillards... down to the shoe department, grab gold, bronze, silver, pewter, black, brown, cream, whatever colored shoes to see what "goes" best with the dress... over to jewelry, handbags, etc... if the cool colored accessories are looking better...then it's a cool colored blue.. if the warm, golden accessories are looking better...then it's a warm colored blue...

It's really hard to wrap your mind around blue and purple being HOT colors. I volunteered in my son's art class. And the teacher was teaching that yellow, orange and red are the warm colors on the color wheel. Green, blue and purple were the cool colors. No if, ands, or buts about it.

I've found, on my screen anyway, a very cold, ICE royal purple kind of color for you to compare with that purple in Curt's photo...

Can you see in the "color party" that IF the color of the dress were the color of the shirt, it would be "doing it's own thing"? It just doesn't "go" at all. The fact that the purple on it's own may SEEM like it SHOULD be an ice color to you, but you can see how it GOES...you have to start trusting in your eye's ability to see the harmony and blending of colors...

Hi Pam,

 

I think we would LOVE to shop together too, don't you? It's wonderful that you and Anita have such a good relationship and have such fun shopping together.

Kim... Mom and I have a great time shopping together... It's fun to have Dad along too... between the three of us, we have FIRE, EARTH, and ICE covered... If the color doesn't look good on any of us, we say it's for Bonnie or QMadam! LOL...

It's just too bad that Mom and I are so far away that the shopping trips are only about once a year...boo hoo.:(